beverly "guitar" watkins (1939-2019)

“An Unsung Hero of the Blues”

Beverly “Guitar” Watkins was a bad ass blues musician. Known for her fiery performances and virtuosic guitar skills, she often played her Fender Mustang guitar, nicknamed “Red Mama” and “Sugar Baby,” behind her back like it was no big deal. Blues legend Taj Mahal aptly described Watkins as “a flat-out musician who can duke it out on stage with the best there is—man, woman, or child prodigy” (Sandomir, 2019). Yet, despite her immense talent, Watkins remained largely underappreciated in her lifetime. In an article for the Oxford American, Rachel Maddux (2016) rightly observed that Beverly “Guitar” Watkins “is probably the greatest living blues guitarist that no one has ever heard of.” Sadly, Watkins died of a heart attack on October 1, 2019, in Atlanta, Georgia, at the age of 80, but my hope is that through this project more people will come to know who she was and understand her impact on blues music, ensuring her legacy lives on as a trailblazing and gifted artist.

Early Life & Musical Beginnings

Beverly Watkins was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 6, 1939. Her early life was marked by loss; her mother died when she was just three months old, leaving her to be raised by her maternal grandparents. After her grandfather’s death, Watkins lived with various relatives, ultimately being cared for by her Aunt Bee until Bee’s passing in 1974 (Haile-Mariam, 2016).

Watkins’s childhood was steeped in music. Her grandfather, Luke Hayes, played the banjo, her father, Lonnie Watkins, played the harmonica, and her aunts, known as the Hayes Sisters, performed in a gospel quartet (Skelly, n.d.). It was her Aunt Margaret who bought her a Stella guitar at age eight, sparking a lifelong passion. When asked in an interview “who introduced her to the blues?” she replied, “It was born in me, from my ancestors.” For Watkins, those ancestors included her musical forbearers, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Marie Knight (Haile-Mariam, 2016).

By high school, Watkins had also learned to play piano, bass, and trumpet, and her band teacher further nurtured her guitar skills by teaching her to tune and play scales (Cooper, 1999). At 17, she joined Bill West Stone and the Down Beats Combo before landing a spot as rhythm guitarist with Piano Red and the Meter Tones, a group that evolved into Dr. Feelgood and the Interns (Callais, 2013).

While The Interns gained fame with hits like “Dr. Feelgood,” and “Right String but Wrong Yo-Yo,” this newly found fame did not protect them from the harsh realities of the segregated south. “They played Mississippi in segregation days and slept in a station wagon because they couldn’t get a motel room” (Cooper, 1999).

As a Black woman guitarist, Watkins often experienced the twin oppressions of racism and sexism. When reflecting on her time playing with Piano Red, she recalled the limitations that women in the industry often encountered, at one point noting in an interview, “Back then I didn’t do nothing but looked pretty and played rhythm” (Cooper, 1999).

Being a woman who sang and played the blues meant that Watkins often encountered a high degree of skepticism from an incredulous audience who routinely questioned her abilities: “People are surprised when a Black woman can play the guitar like a man,” she explained. “Some people say, ‘I’ve got to hear this, ’cause I don’t believe she can do it.’ I just say, ‘Just wait until showtime comes’” (Cooper, 1999).

After showtime, male audience members would often ask her “where she learned to play like that?” to which she usually would respond, “Jesus” (Sandomir, 2019). Despite her obvious abilities, societal prejudices still loomed large. Men frequently told her, “Put that guitar down. You don’t need to be playing no guitar” (Sandomir, 2019). Watkins, however, remained undeterred.

“Back in Business”

After Piano Red and the Interns disbanded in 1965, Watkins played with numerous bands and opened for legends like Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin. However, she struggled to find consistent work and took jobs cleaning houses and washing cars to support herself. Throughout this period, she continued playing music, often performing as a solo act in Underground Atlanta, the artist entertainment district (Maddux, 2016).

In 1995, Timothy Duffy of the Music Maker Relief Foundation learned about Beverly “Guitar” Watkins through her frequent collaborator Danny “Mudcat” Dudeck (Maddux, 2016). Duffy began booking her for shows, including the Women of the Blues “Hot Mamas” tour that included Koko Taylor and Rory Block. Like her fellow Georgian, Precious Bryant, at age 60, Watkins released her debut album Back in Business in 1999 through the Music Maker Relief Foundation. The album earned her a W.C. Handy Awards nomination for Best New Artist Debut.

Watkin’s playing style blended what she called the “lowdown, stomping blues” with elements of rock and roll (Sandomir, 2019). Her second album, The Feelings of Beverly “Guitar” Watkins, was released in 2005, followed by Don’t Mess with Miss Watkins in 2007 and The Spiritual Expressions of Beverly “Guitar” Watkins in 2009. She also appeared on several compilation albums and earned nine music awards, including a European Grammy (Callais, 2013).

Honoring Her Legacy

Watkins battled lung cancer in 2005, a fight that sidelined her temporarily but did not diminish her spirit. “It wasn’t no easy thing from where I started onto now,” she reflected. “I hung in there. I never gave up” (Haile-Mariam, 2016). She continued performing into her seventies, wowing audiences with her energy and skill. Reflecting on her career and what the blues meant to her, she said, “Blues is a feeling, and I’m grateful I’ve had a lot of opportunities to go out and share the blues” (Callais, 2013).

Beverly “Guitar” Watkins passed away from a heart attack on October 1, 2019, in Atlanta, Georgia at the age of 80. Her legacy lives on in the hearts and minds of blues enthusiasts and “SisterFans” like myself who are thankful to “Mama Watkins” (Maddux, 2016) for paving the way for future generations of guitar-wielding Black women in blues. Let her life and music be a testament to the enduring power of the human spirit.

Lady Plays the Blues Project © 2024 by Yoli Bergstrom-Lynch is licensed under CC BY 4.0  

Supported by a Carnegie Whitney Grant from the American Library Association